A few weeks back my family were in a games store and saw Pictionary for the Wii on the shelves and decided to buy a copy, thankfully they phoned me first and I could stop them since we don’t have the uDraw peripheral to even play the game.

So then imagine my surprise when the very next day I get a uDraw and Pictionary game delivered, I think those guys at SK are maybe a little psychic, and so we got to sit down as a family and review the title.

So we start up the game and are then offered 3 different game types which come down to standard, Pictionary Mania and free draw.

We choose Pictionary Mania and get going, after rolling the die to see who goes first the game starts and you are shown a screen in which you need to click and hold the block that covers the word you are about to draw and then drag it out the way to see the word while everyone looks away.

Once you have read the word you let go and the block slides back over and covers it and you are ready to go.

The general rules of Pictionary now apply as you are given a blank piece of paper and a timer and you have to start drawing. One major benefit of this Pictionary over the standard is that you have a toolbox on the right where you can swap your pencil for a spraycan or paintbrush or more useful a rectangle, circle or square tools amongst others. Which means when I am creating my generic house look everyone can pretty much see what I am getting at a lot quicker.

Once the person guesses correctly you click the answer button and proceed so pretty much it’s all working as normal up to now.

Then the mania part starts, for the next round the paper starts turning around and I need to draw my man throwing the javelin while the paper turns and makes me sort of nauseous. Other mania options that I enjoyed were 1 line where you can never lift the pen of the paper and straight lines only which make it incredibly difficult to draw the sun.

The big question I had before it started was how would the allplays work since we only have one tablet and the answer is pretty elegant really, if it’s your turn and it’s an allplay then you still draw and the other team gets to then try and answer as well. Simple as that and it really does work to make for an enjoyable experience.

Another nice touch is that as you progress through the game your awesome artwork starts appearing in the background in frames and on the walls and it’s just a nice touch, especially for the younger ones who get really excited about this sort of thing.

Scoring:

Gameplay: 8

The game is Pictionary and it plays like Pictionary but the added mania options are a nice touch and make the game a viable alternative to the board game.

Design and Presentation: 7.5

The boards pretty simple but then again it is a board game and there isn’t much more to it. It’s nice and easy to follow though and that gives it extra points on design.

Value: 7.5

The title retails for around R265 which is very cheap for a computer game but twice the price of the boardgame version but then if Pictionary is your thing then this would be a nice addition to your gaming collection


Overall: 7.5

The game itself is solid and is a decent Pictionary emulator but I’m not entirely sure it’s any better than the standard board game version and since I generally play Pictionary with friends after far to many glasses of wine I can’t see this version taking the place of our tatty wine stained standard edition.

[Reviewed on Wii]

Last Updated: May 11, 2011

Pictionary
7.5

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